I've been chipping away at Carrier Command's beta for a while now, and telling most people who'll listen how much fun I've been having. Those who know the track record of developers Bohemia Interactive (ArmA) or the limitations of the original game it's based on (first released in 1988) often wonder why that is.

This video shows why.

For 2:09, it outlines the strategic side of the game. Overseeing a giant carrier as you battle an opponent across an archipelago or strangely uniform islands.

Then at 2:10, one of my biggest gaming fetishes kicks in. Not only do you take direct control of one of the ships inside the carrier, but you get to sit in it while it launches. I don't know what it is about that sequence that lights a fire under me - maybe it's childhood fantasies - but every time it happens, a little part of me cannot stop grinning.

It also helps that, once in the air (or on the ground), the vehicles actually control pretty well!